We write down exactly what we're going to do, then we do it.
Marcus Delray started Cornerstone Home Renovations in 2014 after spending eight years as a site supervisor for a mid-size general contractor in Brampton. He'd watched too many homeowners get handed a finished project that didn't match what they were shown in the quote, and he got tired of being the person on-site who had to explain why. He left in the spring of 2014 with a truck, a set of tools, and a straightforward idea: write down exactly what you're going to do, do it, and charge what you said you would.
The first few years were mostly kitchen and bathroom jobs in Oakville and Burlington, mostly through word of mouth from a handful of early clients who kept referring neighbours. By 2017, the crew had grown to four full-time carpenters and a dedicated tile setter. The turning point came in the winter of 2018 when a large basement finishing project in Etobicoke required coordinating six trades over ten weeks. That project taught the team how to run a complex schedule without letting communication fall apart, and it became the model for how Cornerstone handles every multi-trade project since.
